03|| a comic store trip and traveling to a party

"Being a fan boy over a superhero does not give you an ample excuse to go to the comic store."

Anderson-Marnell Apartment, Fitz Building, Queens, New York, April 2016-

The morning beams of a Thursday morning did not wake Alison. Nor did the alarm clock that she had set for the school time, or the incessant yelling of her younger brother to wake up. It was a day in which Alison knew that she would not be going to school.

Alison was somewhat exhausted from the day before, but it was another lingering factor of the day in which Alison despised. This was the anniversary of the day their dad had left her and Charles on Jackie's doorstep, his niece, without any warning.

Jackie, of course, knew that the day for the two of them would be tough, and she called the two Marnell kids in sick. However much time Jackie wanted to spend with the two kids, she knew that she could not, as she had work. The woman had left without a sound earlier in the morning, leaving the teenager and her middle school brother alone in the apartment.

Alison rolled over in her bed, still exhausted. Giving a small groan, she placed her head in her pillow and tried to shut out the sunlight streaming into her room. However, as much as she wanted to sleep, the loud pounding of the hardwood floor to her room could be heard loud and clear.

"Alison!" A voice hollered, jumping onto her bed. It was her brother Charles, and he seemed up, bright and early. For Alison, at least. "Come on! It's already 11:30 and you aren't even up yet! And you promised me that we would go to the comic store!" He scrambled over to Alison, trying to shake her awake.

Alison gave a small sigh, attempting to keep her face inside of the pillow. "Charles, just give me fifteen more minutes." She protested, her voice muffled from the pillow. "And then we can take our bikes to the Queens comic store."

Charles sat back on Alison's bed, shaking his head. "You're just going to say that in fifteen minutes when I try and get you up again. So get up now, or I'm going to get a glass of water and dump it all over your face." His face molded into one of seriousness and irritation, deciding to continue to shake her awake.

Alison rolled over, her face looking at Charles with annoyance. "I hate you, you know that?" She sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I was getting the perfect amount of sleep last night, it was a whole six hours." Alison groaned, starting to sit up in her bed.

Charles looked at Alison with an alarmed look. "You didn't go to bed until 5 o'clock this morning? You heard Jackie leave this morning and still wasn't asleep!" He exclaimed, his voice raising a few tones.

"Yeah," Alison made a motioning gesture for Charles to get off of her bed. "That's normally when I fall asleep. Or 3 AM. It really depends on if I have school or not." Charles began to get off of her bed, and Alison threw off her sheets lazily. "Now grab me a breakfast bar, and I'm going to get dressed."

Charles rolled his eyes, starting to walk towards her door. "You know, I wouldn't get you the breakfast bar unless I really wanted to go to the comic store, and lucky for you, I really do." He shut the door as he walked out of the room, the door making a soft click shut.

"Love you too!" Alison hollered as the door shut. She stood up from her bed, and opened her closet. Finding some good black skinny jeans and a basic salmon colored t shirt, she grabbed her favorite black cardigan and swiped on some basic makeup.

Quickly finding two socks, which were not matching, Alison grabbed her Nikes and walked out of her room. "Get your shoes on!" Alison said in the hallway, slipping on her socks and putting on her shoes. "We better hurry down to the comic store, cause I have to be back here before 5!"

Charles slid into the hallway in his socks, looking at Alison with a disapproving glance. "Really? Another party? How many is it in the past two weeks without Jackie knowing?" He threw up his hands, emphasizing his question.

"About four, maybe five. What about it? As long as you don't snitch, I'll be just fine." Alison dismissed, tying her shoes against the wall. "Plus, I don't stay out that late." She walked up to Charles, tapping his shoulder, as if to tell him to move.

"Yeah, cause 2 AM totally isn't late for a 15 year old." Charles fired back, almost being a parent to his older sister. "You're so fortunate that I love you enough to know that if I snitched on you to Jackie, that there would be hell to pay for the both of us."

"Woah!" Alison exclaimed ruffling Charles' hair. "You need to watch your language, mister." Taking the breakfast bar from Charles' hand that it was in, she opened the wrapper. "Come on, this banter is not going anywhere, let's lock up and grab our bikes."

Charles gave a disappointing shake of his head, following Alison as she started to head towards the door. "I'll grab the key, you grab the bike helmets. You know the drill." He grabbed the house key from the kitchen counter where it typically lay, watching Ali grab the bike helmets from the rack they were placed on.

"Let's go!" Alison tried to rush up Charles, who was taking a while to walk over to Alison and grab his bike helmet. "It's already 12:15, and it'll take us at least 15 minutes to bike to the store and 15 to bike back. That only leaves us with four hours to peruse, and god knows how long you will take in the comic store."

"Oh shush." Charles huffed, punching Ali as he took his bike helmet from her. "We will be back by 3PM, guaranteed." He said confidently, already placing his helmet on as they walked out of the apartment.

Alison took the apartment key from Charles as she shut the door, locking the door handle behind her. "Five bucks to say that we won't be back by 3 PM." She bet, taking the key from the lock on the door.

"Five bucks to say we will be back before 3PM." Charles countered her deal, seeming rather cocky about the bet. "I'll actually hurry today, no perusing. I know exactly what I want and where to get it."

"Let's get going, cause I want to get those five bucks sooner rather than later." Alison motioned towards the end of the hallway, and the elevator that lay at the end of the hallway. "Although that would make you win." She countered herself, shaking her head. "Just get going before you win."

Charles just chuckled, and started to run towards the elevator with an elated smile. "I'm going to get those five dollars, just you wait!" It was apparent that he wanted to win, and get to the comic store. "Just you wait..."

Alison got back to the apartment at 4:45, with five dollars from her brother in her hands. "And who was correct in the end?" She asked her brother, walking into the apartment with a victory pose.

"You." Charles answered glumly, comic book bags in his hands. He had at least 20 new comics, courtesy of Jackie's reserved comic book money for the kid, and his saved up allowance for the particular moment like today. "Go get ready for your party!" Charles placed the bags on the sofa. "You said you had to get back here before 5." He mocked, plopping down on the sofa beside his new comics.

"Oh shush." Alison shook her head, walking out of the main area of the apartment. "You're just bitter that I won, now read your comics and be happy." She teased, rolling her eyes in a joking manner, Charles not seeing the action.

Charles gave a small huff, opening his first comic. Alison strolled into her room, opening her closet to try and find the right party outfit. Last time, she had worn white skinny jeans and spilled beer from the keg on them. Those were officially trashed, and she had learned not to wear white jeans to a party.

Then there was her romper. It was rather pretty, with some blue paisley designs over the white background, but it felt too much like a summer party dress. Too early for that, as it was only April. Alison threw the idea of wearing the romper out of her brain as easily as throwing a tennis ball at a wall.

There was her normal black flower dress that was rather simple and nice, and with a nice brown leather jacket it would be perfect. Deciding that the dress would be good for the night, Alison wiggled the clothes on, touching up on her basic makeup.

Instead of wearing Nikes like she did to the comic store, Alison grabbed her combat boots from her closet. They were shoved in the back, barely worn for parties or any other instance. But they went well with her outfit, and Alison decided that they would do for the night.

Walking out of her room, Alison saw that Lexi was already in her living room, inspecting the new comics Charles had received with her brother. Giving a small chuckle, Alison made her way over to her friend, tapping her on the shoulder. "And I thought you said comics were for geeks, yet here you are."

Lexi turned around to see her taller (and younger) friend, rolling her eyes. "You know, I can ask people what they're reading without being a nerd like you. Now, are you finally ready? It feels like I've been waiting here forever." She complained, brushing a piece of her blonde hair out of her face.

Alison looked at Lexi's outfit, a nice white skirt and a blue blouse that was very open and flown. She didn't have any better words to describe the outfit than flowy, but it looked rather flattering on her friend.

"Yeah right," Alison shook her head with a smile, stifling a laugh. "I bet you that you got here five minutes ago." Ali started to push her friend toward the door, ready to leave for the phone. "You're here early anyways."

Lexi was left silent, knowing the words that Alison were speaking were indeed true, so she just waved goodbye to Charles and let Ali lead her out of the apartment. "And while I cannot argue the truth in that fact, I do need to press the issue of the importance of getting there early. Parking spots are essential for a party, especially if you're getting- or attempting to get- drunk tonight and I need to be a responsible driver."

"As if!" Alison laughed, shutting the door to the apartment once more. "We're both getting at least a little buzzed tonight, and that's a promise that I'm making you keep." She sternly told her sophomore friend, shaking her finger jokingly at Lexi.

Lexi gave a smirk, turning right instead of the normal left for the elevator. It seemed that the two girls were taking the stairs, maybe to seem less inconspicuous or something. "And who would I be if I didn't follow through with that promise?" She turned around, walking backwards while talking to Alison. "Now let's get going, we have a Midtown party to crash."

<~*~>

*clap clap*

mEmE rEvIeW

jkjk

fourth rewrite of like 14 done! this one was the one that I probably wanted to revise the most, so I hope that I did subpar on it. it's still choppy, but, meh, that's what's gonna be until I fix it tomorrow when I am not this tired.

bUt hey I finished earlier than yesterday, 11:33!

haha GrammarPolice394

I finished before you, get wrecked. and you were the one who said I should write when you were writing mwhahahahahahha

anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed, and comment your favorite marvel movie so I know you read the rewrite of this!